episode-header-image

Nov 2023

38m 28s

Fighting racism in postwar Britain

IMMEDIATE MEDIA

About this episode

Sixties Britain didn’t swing for all its citizens – with racism, anti-immigration rhetoric and the spectre of unemployment affecting many black and Asian Britons. But those affected were determined to fight for their rights. Speaking to Rhiannon Davies, Preeti Dhillon revisits this familiar era to reveal examples of anti-racist activism that have been largely forgotten today.

(Ad) Preeti Dhillon is the author of The Shoulders We Stand On: How Black and Brown people fought for change in the United Kingdom (Dialogue Books, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoulders-We-Stand-people-Kingdom/dp/0349702829/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next

How Julius Caesar's funeral drama fuelled the mob

The assassination ofJulius Caesar is one of the most infamous plots of the ancient world, but the dictator's death wasn't the only moment in his life and afterlife marked by political machinations. Speaking to Emily Briffett, Jessica Clarke reveals how careful curation and stage ... Show More

The dark side of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys is well-known for his brilliantly evocative diary, which gives an unsurpassed insight into daily life in Restoration London. However, it turns out Pepys also had a sinister side. Something that has been overlooked or ignored in his diaries for centuries, is that Pepy ... Show More

Margaret Tudor: life of the week

Margaret Tudor was the daughter of a king, the sister of a king, and the wife of a king. But she was a political power player in her own right, carefully balancing family loyalties to both the crown of England and the crown of Scotland. She also left an extraordinary legacy of co ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

Anti-Irish Racism in 1930s Britain

In the 1920s and 30s Irish emigrants in Britain faced widespread racism and discrimination. Labelled drunks, subversives, and a threat to society, right wing politicians whipped up fear and hatred against the community.This podcast tells the forgotten stories of these emigrants. ... Show More

Black British history

To mark Black History Month in the UK we look back at some landmark moments in British Black History. We hear how the famous cricketer Learie Constantine broke the colour bar, and about the Notting Hill race riots and the Bristol bus boycott. Plus, we speak to Britain’s first bla ... Show More

401. Windrush: The Story of Black Britain

On the 8th of June 1948, the HMT Windrush sailed from Kingston with almost 500 migrants on board, destined for England. The ship docked at Tilbury on the 22nd of June, and history was made. Since that day the legend of Windrush has gradually come to characterise an increasingly b ... Show More

British black history special

We present five eyewitness accounts of moments in British black history. Including the late Sam King remembering the voyage of the Empire Windrush, plus Britain's first black headteacher Yvonne Conolly, Dr William Lez Henry on confronting the Far Right in the battle of Lewisham, ... Show More

417. Britain in 1974: State of Emergency (Part 1)

“Who governs Britain?”Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trade Unions, British industry was flailing. England’s sporting record was atrocious, the economy was tanking and the prospect of a miners’ s ... Show More

Jeremy Black, "Defoe's Britain" (St. Augustine's Press, 2023)

The Weight of Words Series continues with Defoe's Britain (St. Augustine's Press, 2023), as historian Jeremy Black uses this writer to interpret Britain in the late 1600s, and likewise looks to the times to interpret the fiction. As seen in previous studies on Christie, Smollett, ... Show More

An Anti-Racism Refresher

Anti-racist work snuck into the mainstream last year. But ever since, it’s received a huge backlash. Why, and what did right-wing media have to gain? This week, Kai revisits two conversations: First, with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of five best-selling books including How to Be a ... Show More

Britain's forgotten slave owners: Part one

It wasn't until recently that researchers working in the national archive in London discovered the extent to which ordinary people in Britain had been involved in the slave trade in the 18th and early 19th century. Louise Hidalgo has been talking to Dr Nick Draper, who uncovered ... Show More

464. Modern British Elections (Part 2)

From the turn of the 20th century, election campaigns - though still replete with politicians behaving badly - have evolved. They have become less mass-participation events or festivals, and receded, with the majority of the population growing increasingly indifferent. Though, fo ... Show More

The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan

With a sinister hierarchy of "grand wizards" and "dragons," hooded Klansmen concealed their identities as they unleashed a reign of terror on Black Americans and other minorities across America for almost a century. Dan is joined by Professor Kristofer Allerfeldt from the Univers ... Show More

Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami